Seventeen years after its introduction, the deadlock over the European directive on equal treatment remains (see EUROPE 13436/24). Meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 19 June at the EU ‘Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council’ (EPSCO), the European ministers once again set out their positions on this text, which aims to guarantee protection against discrimination based on religion, belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
While a large majority of Member States support the adoption of the directive, opposition from Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic is preventing it from being adopted, as the necessary unanimity is lacking in the EU Council.
The difficulty in finding common ground led the European Commission to announce in February that it would withdraw the text within six months (see EUROPE 13640/26, 13581/20, 13579/21), when presenting its work programme (https://aeur.eu/f/fgp ).
While expressing its support for the anti-discrimination objectives, Italy stated that it was particularly concerned that certain national public policies and age-based measures to encourage births could be deemed discriminatory under the text.
The demographic challenge is one that is shared by the whole of the European Union.
The Member State is also concerned about a possible “extension" of EU competences into traditionally national areas, such as education, social protection or family law, which would violate the principle of subsidiarity.
Similarly, the German federal government has confirmed that it maintains a general reserve. The aim is to reject any extension of the scope to social protection and education, areas which Germany considers to fall strictly within the remit of the Member States, again in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Germany also regrets the “lack of a cost estimate” for the current version and calls for the general justification clauses to be extended to all the grounds of discrimination covered by the directive.
The Czech Republic, for its part, believes that the lack of progress in the negotiations makes withdrawal “an entirely logical step”. The idea of stepping up the fight against discrimination has not been rejected by the Member State, which says it is open to “any other proposal”.
Nevertheless, a large majority of Member States reiterated their commitment to the text.
Sweden’s Minister for Equality, Nina Larsson, speaking on behalf of a group including France, Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia, said the time had come to “close this gap in our equality acquis”. France condemned the withdrawal as “a step backwards and an unacceptable signal in terms of protecting the rights of European Union citizens”.
Luxembourg, Spain, Slovakia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland and Denmark - which will hold the rotating presidency of the EU Council starting in July - have also called on the Commission not to withdraw the directive.
Some nuances have been introduced. Certain states, such as Austria, Bulgaria and Cyprus, have certainly called for the principle of subsidiarity to be respected, but have also called for a directive that does not undermine national competences.
All three, as well as Denmark, encouraged continued efforts to reach a compromise, without however completely relaunching the whole process. The Danish Minister for Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, insisted that seventeen years of negotiations should not be “simply thrown away”, saying she was waiting for the Commission’s final decision on withdrawal before considering alternatives, and that she was ready for an in-depth debate at the next EU Council meeting in October.
Following the discussions, Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, said: “I think we’re sticking to our guns. We don’t have to change our position. I have taken careful note of your contributions”. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)